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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Moving indoors brings on the flu season. It used to be
thought that getting chilled made you ‘catch’ a cold. Other ‘causes’ were
washing your hair, or even taking a bath. All of these may have a half a grain
of truth to them, if that much.

Colds and flu are caused by viruses. You can’t catch a virus
if it is not in your environment. If it is in your environment you won’t catch
it unless your immune system is weak. If your immune system is strong it will
be like tossing a rubber ball against a steel door. You may be aware of it, but
you won’t get sick.

CDC reports show that at best flu shots are 66% effective,
but they can’t confirm it because even if you go to the doctor flu cases are
not reported to the CDC. The cocktail of dead and/or live viruses are a guess,
based on past history. How accurate is that history if lab tests aren’t taken
and reported to the CDC? That is supposing that the CDC instructs the
pharmaceutical companies which viruses to use. Where is the evidence that
happens? Are the companies allowed to pick their own? If you were building a
table and the customer said they didn’t care what it was made of you would be
tempted to use the cheapest materials you could find.

Vaccines contain some interesting ingredients. They are made
from aluminum. Aluminum has a known link to breast
cancer, Alzheimer’s disease. If you are vegan you may want to know that they
contain sugars (sugar
often comes from non-vegan sources), egg protein, and gelatin (derived from
collagen obtained from various animal by-products). This doesn’t sound very vegan.

A fairly new
ingredient in vaccines is glyphosate. This is one of the ingredients in
the herbicide Roundup. There is a growing link between glyphosate and autism,
as well as other diseases. This increases the possibility of vaccine related
autism. Part of the link to autism is the aluminum in the vaccines. It
interferes with how the body synthesizes sulfate, as well as gastrointestinal
health. Growing evidence is that digestion and detoxification problems are
caused by aluminum destroying the delicate balance of bacteria in the gut. The
consequences of this include leaky gut syndrome, kidney failure and pineal
gland calcification.

Thimerosal is also found in vaccines. It is one of the
sources of mercury. It is particularly toxic to boys. Boys have a greater
incidence of autism than girls do. It has been shown in test tubes to destroy
neuronal cells.

There is a virus, called EV-D68 that seems to only
occur among children that have been vaccinated. Some of these children have had
to be hospitalized, yet the public is not hearing about it. The MMR vaccines
seem to be the culprit, but parents are not being warned about this virus.

Encephalopathy is also a problem that is characterized
as seizures, other medical experts call it a general brain disease. The link to
vaccines has been shown strong enough that the parents of these children are
being given monetary compensation by our government. Can money take away the
hardship or heartache of a child that is neurologically damaged?

MMR vaccines are supposed to protect against measles,
mumps and rubella. Rubella was determined to be a cause of autism a long time
ago. The way vaccines are said to work is to give the child a mild case of the
disease that their immune systems can fight off, thereby giving them immunity
to the disease. But children’s immune systems are not tested prior to giving
them the vaccine. There is no standard test to determine how strong a person’s
immune system is. Parents are asked to rely on faith that their children will
come through the experience with little more than grumpiness and maybe a mild
fever.

It isn’t just young children that are suffering the effects
of vaccines. Since the advent of the HPV vaccine numerous deaths, illnesses and
permanent health problems have been on the rise among teenage girls. They have
been shown to occur directly after the vaccination, although health care
officials refuse to blame the vaccines. Common symptoms include cold hands and feet, becoming pale,
convulsing and even collapsing unconscious. The weakness can be so bad that the
girl is left unable to care for themselves. In one are in Columbia over 370
girls have been stricken. Officials are blaming it on mass hysteria.

When I am
approached by a doctor, my local pharmacy, my local drug store, or now days
even my local grocery store to get the latest flu shot I politely but firmly
tell them no. Even though I am no longer a small child, or even a teenager the
health risks far outweigh the benefits.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Our social lives tend to revolve around food, and many times
those foods revolve around sugar. Many people turn to the artificial sugars to
try to combat the negative side effects of too much sugar. Manufacturers hide
sugar under many different names so the buyer won’t realize just how much sugar
is in their products. Now the FDA is saying that with certain high intensity
artificial sweeteners they don’t have to be listed in the ingredients. Their
reasoning is that it takes a smaller amount to get the same sweetening, but
there is a problem with this. With the sweetness concentrated, so are the side
effects.

Many people turn to artificial sweeteners when they are
diagnosed with diabetes. They figure that they can then have their cake and eat
it too. The problem is that many of these artificial sweeteners have the same
side effects as sugar. Aspartame in particular has been shown to raise blood
sugar levels as much as sugar does. It and the other artificial sweeteners have
been shown to alter the gut bacteria of those who use them. This leads to
glucose intolerance, in other words diabetes.

Changing our gut bacteria typically means that we are
killing the good bacteria and allowing the bad bacteria free reign. This leads
to many chronic illnesses. Part of it is caused by poor nutrition; the good
bacteria help us get the good things from our food. Among the links associated
with artificial sweeteners is an increase in cancer.

Add this to the fact that many people who consume products
made with artificial sugars look at it as permission to overindulge. The
sweetener may not have any calories, but the other ingredients do. In the long
run they consume far more calories than they realize, which adds to the obesity
that they were thinking they were fighting with the artificial sweeteners. Studies
are also showing that these sweeteners stimulate the appetite, encouraging the
consumer to eat more.

Many people avoid artificial sugars. They think they are
only getting them in their occasional sodas, so they must be safe. That is far
from the truth. With no labeling requirements they may be getting these
sweeteners every time they eat something they didn’t cook from scratch. This
builds up the toxic ingredients in our systems very quickly.

What are the symptoms of artificial sweetener toxicity? They
include headaches, nausea, dizziness,
weakness, and change in heart rate, seizures, difficulty breathing, sleep
problems and neurological reactions. One study focused on diet sodas. They
found a total of 31 percent of the daily diet soda drinkers had suffered a
heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease by the end of the
study, compared with only 22 percent of the less-regular consumers. They also
found that daily drinkers of diet soda did tend to weigh more, have
less healthy cholesterol levels, and higher rates of high blood pressure and
diabetes than other study participants.

Are these risks worth
the momentary sweet taste in your mouth? Americans as a whole are addicted to
sweets, whether it is in the form of sugar or artificial sweeteners. That
addiction can be broken through avoiding sweets altogether, but that approach
is so hard it is almost impossible. There are a couple of natural sweeteners
that have been shown not to have the side effects of either sugar or artificial
sweeteners. They are stevia and Luo Han. Both come directly from plants. Watch the stevia brands, because
many say they are ‘made from’ stevia instead of being a pure stevia extract.
This means the stevia was taken to a factory where chemicals and other
artificial products were introduced to change its chemical makeup. Those are
just as bad as the artificial sweeteners.

If we have to slip and
eat something sweet then go for the full fat full sugar variety. In the long
run your body will thank you for it. You will eat less and be more satisfied by
it.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

When we think of Veteran’s we commonly think of PTSD or old
age related problems such as Alzheimer’s. Many of our currently returning
veterans are suffering from something entirely different. It is called
Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. Civilians can get this as well, especially in
sports or automobile accidents. A TBI can occur when something hits your skull,
but it can also occur when your body is moved forcefully enough that the brain
‘bounces’ against the inside of the skull.

Think of a person being thrown from
a car. They may not actually hit their head on anything, but the jarring effect
of the sudden landing can cause damage. Children sometimes get this type of
injury when shaken.

The results of this type of injury are very traumatic. The
person may look fine on the outside, but be unable to think clearly or remember
details for an extended period of time. For some it is like suddenly having
Alzheimer’s. The good news is that they don’t typically continue to downward
spiral like someone with Alzheimer’s. The brain can heal itself, but it is a
long hard road, filled with frustration, anger and depression. These roadblocks
occur for the family of the injured person as well as the victim. There are
things we can do to speed up the process. It can go from a seeming standstill
to the pace of a slow snail.

Things to avoid:

The modern American diet. This is not what the
injured person wants to hear. They want to get back to normal. They want to
hang out with their friends and do what their friends are doing. Their friends
are killing brain cells with artificial colors, artificial flavors, pesticides,
antibiotics, and just plain poor nutrition. The person who is trying to rebuild
their brain can’t afford to kill brain cells.

Alcohol. This is tough because their buddies may
be imbibing and they want to relax and hang out with them, but they can’t
afford to.

Antibiotics. If you need them to save your life,
take them, but follow up with a good probiotic and fermented foods. Good gut
health equals good brain health. We have to start taking care of our guts
before the body can take care of the brain.

Wheat products. There is a term called ‘grain
brain’ that describes what happens when someone eats a diet based mainly on
grains. It closely resembles dementia.

Avoid toxic substances in your home. These
include lead, Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and other flame retardants,
Toluene, PERC found in dry cleaned clothes, and fluoride. If it smells or
tastes like a chemical then you will want to stay away from it.

There are some positive things you can do to improve your
brain power, even if your brain has been injure. The first is to eat a healthy
diet. A diet based on organic fruits and vegetables that include a lot of green
leafy vegetables. This doesn’t mean you have to avoid meat and dairy. Good
organic meats and dairy contain the critical Omega 3 fatty acids that reduce
inflammation and encourage the brain to heal.

Move your body. Sitting in front of the TV all
day is wrong on many different levels. Physical exercise, including strength
training has been shown to help with more than just increasing the blood flow.
It decreases stress, produces nerve protecting compounds, improves the
production of neurons, as well as releasing feel good hormones.

Learn something new. Even just reading a book,
or listening to a book on a subject you are unfamiliar with helps create new
brain cells. The more you are interacting with the information the more good it
will do you. Learning a new language has shown the most benefit, but only if
you actually use it.

One of the simplest things you can do is to make
sure you stay well hydrated. An easy formula to remember is to take your body
weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the optimum
number of ounces to strive for. If you sweat heavily increase it accordingly.
It works best if you get half your water in before lunch.

For those that have a long way to go to achieve brain health
the progress is going to be painfully slow, but it will be there. For the rest
of us, using these tips can slow down and possibly prevent brain deterioration
as we age.